


Trick-or-Treat (Cheer Up)

by writingstylinson



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Candy, Finnley Tomlinson, Football | Soccer, Halloween, Halloween Candy, Halloween Costumes, Harry Styles Has No Kids, Harry Styles Has a Crush on Louis Tomlinson, Louis Tomlinson Has a Crush on Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson Has a Daughter, M/M, Neighbors, Single Harry Styles, Single Louis Tomlinson, Single Parent Louis Tomlinson, Trick or Treating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-18
Updated: 2019-10-18
Packaged: 2020-12-23 18:30:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21085886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writingstylinson/pseuds/writingstylinson
Summary: Louis Tomlinson is the single father of a little girl named Finnley, and they’ve been living in Holmes Chapel for a year. This Halloween is the first one they will be celebrating without Louis’ younger siblings or his own mother. It’s because of this that his daughter, who is usually outgoing and fearless, starts to have some worries about going trick-or-treating alone with her father.Then Louis comes up with the perfect solution.





	Trick-or-Treat (Cheer Up)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AFangirlFantasy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AFangirlFantasy/gifts).

> This fanfic in particular is dedicated to a very special person I met through Tumblr. She's the person who has fueled my addiction to the Styles twins/triplets trope and has the most organized list of fics she recommends. She's the person who recommended my fics and really helped get my little blog off the ground. I don't think there are any words to show her just how thankful I am for her... so instead I've written a fic for her! Here you go! Hopefully I don't disappoint too much. xx

Louis brushes the loose strand of blonde hair into the bundle he’s already gathered in his fist, then twists the black scrunchie around it. “Hairband,” he says. A thin loop of material is placed into Louis’ palm, and he slides it on over Finnley’s head so it catches the baby hairs from falling into her face. He sets the pink hairbrush down onto the sink countertop and looks into the mirror at their reflection. Despite the fact that Louis has been doing his sisters’ hair since they were born, and his daughter’s for seven years, he still feels the need to ask. “What do you think? Did I do okay?” 

It’s going onto a three year streak of Finnley dressing up as a soccer player for Halloween. The only difference in her costume between each year is the color of her jersey and the team name printed across the front (due to her costume being her soccer uniform from the recreational team). This year Finnley’s uniform is a green and white striped jersey paired with white shorts. It’s not one of Louis’ favorites, but that’s probably because last year she had been playing for the same team he did at her age. This year they’re not even living in the same town, let alone county. 

Finnley gives a vigorous nod that’s paired a smile wide enough to show her two missing teeth, “you always do my hair the best!” 

“Not tired of dressing as a little soccer player for Halloween yet?” 

She shakes her head, “nope! I’m going to be one every year!” 

Louis smiles to himself. It’s something he should’ve guessed she would say. Then again he’s not exactly surprised considering he had gone as Peter Pan for five years straight as a kid. He even dressed up as the famous Disney character for his first college party. Now that Louis’ wearing a typical referee uniform, he’s not entirely sure how he should feel. On one hand he’s matching costumes with his only child and on the other hand, he feels as if he’s aged into a full grown adult. 

“Daddy,” Finnley starts and turns to look up at him, “do you think I’ll see anyone from my school?” 

He leans down and presses a kiss to her hair, “you might. Holmes Chapel is very small compared to Donnie.” 

Before Louis can add anything to his statement, Finnley is already leaving the cramped bathroom. He puts the hairbrush away into the drawer of hair accessories that he’s organized just for her, then turns the light off on his way out. “Grab your trick-or-treat bag, Finn. We’re gonna head out in a couple of minutes,” he calls out. 

Louis rounds the corner into the living room and finds Finnley digging through the bowl of sweets on the coffee table, “Finnley Jay! What are you doing? Those are for the trick-or-treaters. Not you.” 

She squeals and runs around to the other side of the coffee table to put a barrier between them. 

It’s moments like these when Louis understands the hell he had put his mother through as a kid. She always did tell him that he would end up with a miniature version of himself and get a taste of his own medicine. In nearly every way, Finnley is exactly that. From the facial features and devious smirk to their love of soccer and crazy antics, there’s no doubt in anyone’s mind that she’s Louis’. The only thing his daughter seems to have gotten from her mother is her blonde hair. Even then she looks a lot like his younger sisters. 

“One!” Finnley yells as she holds up a small pack of jelly babies. 

He glares are her, “One. That’s it though.” 

“Thank you, Daddy,” she says and tears open the package before plopping a red sweet into her mouth. 

With a roll of his eyes, Louis tucks the large and flimsy bowl under his arm. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone to see that trick-or-treating had officially started no more than ten minutes ago. They have nearly three hours to collect though so he isn’t concerned. 

“Do you have your bag? We gotta go get some treats ,” Louis looks over to the couch when he doesn’t get a response, “Finn?” 

Finnley is perched up on the far side of the couch with her trick-or-treat bag in her lap. The bag is a black pillow case that’s been decorated with glow in the dark puffy paint. Louis has a similar one as he decorated his with the image of a skeleton while she went with a collection of pumpkins, swirls, random dots, and a soccer ball. Instead of the toothy grin that he normally sees on her face, she’s staring down at her lap with a frown. 

“Finn?” Louis tries again from his spot across the room. Nothing. He walks around the coffee table and then crouches down in front of her, his hands falling to rest on his knees. “Finn, what’s wrong? You know you can talk to me.” 

Finnley sniffles and wipes her tears with the back of her hand, “miss home... wanna go trick-or-treating with Auntie Daisy and Auntie Phoebe and Auntie Doris and Uncle Ernie. We always go trick-or-treating with them.” 

The statement causes Louis to frown. It’s true. Up until today, Louis and Finnley have always gone trick-or-treating with his younger siblings since they’re so close in age. The younger set of twins, Ernest and Doris, are only a year older than her. Since Louis himself was only eighteen when Finnley was born, he had decided to stay close to home to get help with raising his daughter. His youngest siblings had only been born a year prior so it made the most sense to him and his mother. 

Louis had decided to move Finnley and himself away in hopes of establishing some form of independence. With a degree in Drama, a year of teaching experience, and just enough money to rent out a home for himself and his daughter, it seemed like the best choice to move out and into his own space. Holmes Chapel came across as the best option. The village is relatively small and safe, the housing is cheap, and the school jumped at the opportunity to hire him. It made sense. 

The move hasn’t been easy though. For Finnley, she’s been pulled away from her friends that she’s known since nursery and now she’s surrounded by kids that poke fun at her thick Yorkshire accent. Given how outgoing and friendly she is, Louis had assumed she would make a dozen friends within the first week. Instead, in the year that they’ve been here, she’s only managed to bond with two other girls that are on her soccer team. 

Needless to say, Louis feels guilty for how much his daughter is struggling and has considered moving back. 

Louis shakes his head in an attempt to rid the negative thoughts. Tonight is supposed to be fun and time for them to spend together, even if it means ditching the trick-or-treating in favor of a horror movie marathon. “I have an idea,” Louis says and pats his pockets to make sure he has not only his wallet but also his keys, “I think it’ll be the perfect thing to cheer you up, okay? Trust me a little.” 

It takes Finnley a couple of seconds before she appears to give Louis a chance, and gets up from her spot on the couch. 

“Let’s go put this out on the steps first,” Louis says and motions towards the bowl of sweeties . The two of them cross the room and over to the foyer, Louis making sure to flick on the porch light, and then they leave out through the front door. He sets the bowl onto the platform before the stairs and considers for a moment if he should’ve made a sign for trick-or-treaters to only take one piece. No one ever actually listens to those though so he leaves it be. 

“C’mon love,” Louis takes his daughter’s petite hand into his own and starts to lead her to the other side of the yard. Their yard is far from large and it’s not even completely theirs as they share it with their next door neighbor. The entire street is filled with terraced houses that are grouped into twos, and Louis and Finnley happen to be paired with a young man named Harry. 

He takes the three steps that lead up to the door and knocks. 

There’s the sound of movement from the other side of the door and what sounds like a movie being paused. Louis and Finnley exchange a look when they hear a loud crash. 

“Sorry!” Harry breathes out as he pulls the door open, a purple bowl decorated in spiders held in his hand. On his head is a black bandana and there’s a matching mask around his eyes. The shirt he’s wearing has laces along the v and his sleeves are puffy as if he’s stolen it from a pirate. 

Louis raises an eyebrow at him. “West,” he clears his throat and tries again, “Westley?”

The man is actually dressed up as the hero from the movie The Princess Bride. 

Harry chuckles and pulls at the collar of his shirt, “Louis,” he looks down at his attire then back up at him and jerks a thumb over his shoulder, “uh yeah. My um, my sword is by the TV.” He looks over at Finnley and gives a small wave, “hi Finn, are you enjoying Halloween so far? I know you guys got out of school early today and all.” 

Finnley giggles and wraps her arms around Harry’s torso in a hug, “I like your costume.” 

“Why thank you, I quite like yours too. A soccer player is pretty cool,” he muses with a nod, “is that your actual uniform? It looks like it is.” 

She nods, “this is my third time trick-or-treating as a soccer player!” 

Without meaning to, Louis finds himself smiling at the interaction. He isn’t exactly close with Harry as their relationship can barely qualify as a friendship, but Finnley had taken to the man almost instantly. During the warmer months she had helped him in his garden just about everyday and he would make fresh squeezed lemonade for the two of them afterwards. Louis loves the close bond that they’ve developed, hence why he’s brought her to him in hopes of it cheering her up, and sometimes wishes that he too could be a part of it. If only they both didn’t get so flustered and tongue-tied around one another. 

”Why um, why do I sense that you two didn’t just come here for the candy?” Harry asks, cutting Louis from his thoughts, and props Finnley up on his hip. 

Louis scratches at his neck and tries to look anywhere that isn’t at him, “er well… you always find a way to um cheer her up.” 

“Cheer her up?” Harry asks and pinches his eyebrows together, “Finn, what’s wrong?”

Finnley hides her face into Harry’s neck, her fingers then start to toy with the laces that are meant to tie his shirt up. 

Louis frowns and steps forward to rub a hand over the curve of her back, “she’s uh, she’s feeling a bit homesick. We’d usually go trick-or-treating with her aunties and uncle.”

“Well, I would offer to let you come with my family but it’s just me and a bowl of candy this year.” Harry smooths a hand over Finnley’s ponytail before twirling the ends around his finger. “That sounds quite boring though, doesn’t it? Trick-or-treating with your dad just means more goodies for yourself! Of course, if he doesn’t steal any from you-” 

“Hey!” Louis calls out and crosses his arms over his chest. 

It only causes Finnley to giggle even harder. 

“Watch out for his sticky fingers,” Harry warns Finnley anyways with a grin, “you also have to show off that uniform of yours! I only ever played soccer for one year and you just so happen to be playing for the same team I did. You gotta show them that you’re the best team and player out of everyone!” 

Finnley sniffles and wipes her tears away, a small smile on her lips, “you’ve only come to one of my games.” 

“I’ll go to the next one, yeah?” 

“You better,” she straightens out her back and looks up at him, “my daddy coaches my team and we’re going to win the tournament.” 

“So that’s who the weirdo in the tracksuit was!” Harry gasps and smacks himself in the forehead.

Louis rolls his eyes and shakes his head to himself, “watch yourself Cheshire Cat.” 

“Feisty,” Harry whispers to Finnley before finally setting her down on her feet, “bring me back one of those pear drops, yeah? Those are one of my favorites.” 

Finnley nods her head and let’s Louis take her hand before they start down the steps. Then she stops and turns back to look at Harry, “come with us! Then you can have all the pear drops!” 

Louis’ eyes widen at the sudden invitation and he sees that Harry is in the same state. “Uh, love, I think Harry is looking forward to just relaxing this evening. I’m sure he doesn’t want to go trick-or-treating with us.” 

“I uh,” Harry starts and rubs at the nape of his neck, “I actually had plans but they got cancelled on me. Hence the extent I’ve gone with dressing up. I wouldn’t mind tagging along if you don’t…” 

Finnley gasps and turns to look up at Louis, his hand being jerked around as she starts to jump up and down as she begs. He chews on his bottom lip and glances between the two of them before finally nodding his agreement. “Yeah, he can come with.” 

“C’mon!” she squeals out at the top of her lungs and swings her trick-or-treat bag. 

Harry’s dimples become prominent as he fails to hide the shit eating grin that spreads across his face. “Just let me put out a sign for the treats really quick!” Then he hurries back into his house. 

Louis looks down to see his daughter already smirking back at him. There’s no possible way she could know about his silly crush on their neighbor, is there? Finnley wiggles her eyebrows as if she can read his mind. His jaw drops, “you little…” 


End file.
